Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 176: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of additional undergraduates and postgraduate primary school teacher places introduced since 2003, up to and including the 2008/2009 academic year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43212/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The level of student intake to the Colleges of Education is determined annually by my Department and it takes account of the supply of, and demand for primary teachers. The number of places on the Bachelor of Education and Post Graduate courses are detailed in the following table.

The intake into the Colleges of Education in future years will continue to be kept under review by my Department to ensure that there is an adequate supply of teachers. In this regard the Teaching Council's database of registered teachers will be able to provide a range of different information on the numbers of registered teachers in various disciplines and on their qualifications. This information will provide valuable input into my Department's examination of issues around the supply and demand for teachers.

As the Deputy will see from the table my Department approved an additional 210 post graduate primary teacher education places for the 2008 intake bringing to 490 the total number of post graduate students in the four colleges who are studying to become primary teachers. 490 post graduate teacher education places have also been approved for the 2009 intake. In addition to the above, an on-line Graduate Diploma in Primary Education, accredited by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC), has been provided by Hibernia College since 2004. This is a part time course and allows third level graduates to continue working while studying for their teaching qualification. The Graduate Diploma conferred at the end of this course, is recognised by my Department for the purposes of primary teaching. It is estimated that there will be in the region of 500 graduates from the Hibernia College in 2008.